"In his address to Congress and his FY 2010 budget proposal, President Obama put health care reform front-and-center before the nation. He is acting boldly and responsibly to end the status quo and galvanize the nation for the reform we urgently need.

Now we need lawmakers to follow his lead and take action this year. The nation needs health care reform that expands coverage, improves the quality of care, and gets budget-busting costs under control. We need reform to we use our health care resources more effectively to make health care affordable for everyone. Recognize that more care and more expensive care is not better care. Revise a dysfunctional payment system that is based on perverse incentives that drive our cost and quality problems.

That means holding providers accountable for the quality of care they provide through greater transparency and the right financial incentives. Adopting and using health information technology to improve quality, safety and coordination, while protecting privacy. Enhancing primary and preventive care, giving consumers the information they need to make the best decisions, and putting patients first in all the reforms we adopt.

The quality of care in America today is intolerable, the costs are unsustainable, and the failure to cover millions of people is unacceptable. We can’t cover all Americans without cutting costs, and we can’t cut costs without covering all Americans. Without meaningful health care reform, there cannot be lasting economic recovery. Congress should waste no time is advancing a reform package that will give every woman, man and child in this country quality, affordable health care.”

The National Partnership for Women & Families is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group dedicated to promoting fairness in the workplace, access to quality health care and policies that help women and men meet the dual demands of work and family. More information is available at www.NationalPartnership.org.